Community bail funds are being flooded with thousands of donations, as organizers across the country struggle to keep demonstrators out of jails after three nights of protests and riots reacting to the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

The spontaneous street protests are happening during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has devastated incarcerated populations who face living conditions where the virus spreads easily. Since the uprisings began, there have been widespread reports of mass-arrests in Minneapolis, Denver, Columbus, New York City, Louisville, and other cities across the US where thousands of people are protesting a series of recent police killings of black citizens, including Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and Ahmaud Arbery.

For activists on the ground, keeping protesters out of jail has become a matter of life and death. In response, local bail funds have received an outpouring of support on social media. On Twitter and Instagram, hundreds of people have begun matching each other's donations to the Minnesota Freedom Fund, a nonprofit which provides cash bail for those who are sent to jail for pretrial detention and can't afford it—including immigrants and asylum seekers being held in ICE detention facilities.

"We were totally surprised and grateful and overwhelmed by all of the support," Tonja Honsey, the Fund's executive director, told Motherboard.